(First published 10th July 2013)
It’s dark and you want the light on. You flick the switch. Hey presto – light! Or – if it doesn’t switch on, you are a tad frustrated. It means one of several things – you haven’t paid the power bill or there’s a blackout for some reason – or the globe’s gone. Whatever, you are frustrated – because you have taken it for granted that by flicking that switch, light naturally comes on. Same with a tap – you want water, you turn the tap on. Again – magic. Water pours out. You turn the tap one way, the water warms up. Turn it the other, it cools down. Turn the tap off – the water stops. But again, you’ve taken it for granted that there will be water coming through that tap. And if neither the light switch works or water does not come through that tap, you are not happy. Over to the phone to ring for help. Dial the right number and your call will go through. Again, taken for granted. Later you want to go to the shop – just up the road. You get into the car, naturally expecting that the engine will start with the turn of the key. And if it doesn’t – that temper isn’t improving but nothing for it except to ring the local automobile club or garage and get help as quickly as possible.
Later on, as you are preparing for dinner in the evening, after a hard day doing whatever you’ve been doing, suddenly visitors arrive unannounced. Looks like they’re here for dinner too. You put on a brave smile and throw on a bit of extra for them – or if you haven’t got that extra, quickly call someone to grab whatever’s needed from the shop. Or, if worst comes to worst, one of the many take away places or nearby restaurants to the rescue.
All inconvenient? Absolutely. But at least such services and utilities are nearby and are convenient – along with all the emergency services.
We are talking about the populated areas of many nations. The story could not be more different hundreds, sometimes thousands of kilometres away – in the outback of Australia, anyway. The people out there do it tough – make no mistake. They are unique – many of them literally struggle on a daily basis simply to survive. Against almost insurmountable odds, both natural and human. It seems that no matter which way they turn, they hit another brick wall. It’s almost more normal for their taps not to produce anything more than a billow of red dust – because there isn’t any water – these people are so often in drought conditions. As for the light – well, in many cases, while a lot of these areas are now connected to the ‘mains’, there are still a lot that aren’t and they have to rely on their own generators. So if the light falters – the globe might have gone but it usually does mean that the generator needs to be restarted – and sometimes this has happened because it needs to be refuelled. No hopping down to the nearest petrol station out there – it means another long trip into the nearest town or depot or restock fuel. Or waiting until the fuel truck has visited. Communication out there has come a long way and telephones are pretty good now – but even then, if you have to call for help, it can be a long time coming. Distances are just so big.
This is the mighty outback of Australia and its people. Many of the men have been born in country hospitals (some on the stations themselves) and have spent their entire lives out there, bar perhaps a few years at boarding school, having been educated for their primary years by the School of the Air. But that’s about it. As for the women – a great many of them have originated from either capital cities or country towns, some from farms and others again from foreign shores – all to live in that pure isolation out there. These are those amazing women, young and old, who have had to learn very quickly to adapt. Some do. Some don’t. The initial allure, novelty and romance of the outback soon wears off and some find that the isolation and loneliness is just too much for them. They find that they cannot handle it after all. Many go out there to work as governesses and marry one of their employer’s neighbours or another local.
But such is the life in the outback. To conduct the research for our book: ‘Red Dust Dreams’ I traveled and visited most of the 20 participating stations. This amazing adventure took me through the out back of SA., NSW., Qld., the NT and WA. I did it alone – and now wouldn’t do it any other way. I absolutely thrived on it. Many of the men on ‘my’ stations are second or third generation and future plans for their properties had involved the eldest son (or daughter nowadays) and family taking over (succession). Sadly, while this used to be common place, it does not appear to be any more. Since the book was published at least six of the stations have been sold. Or abandoned.
And the women out there? Well, all those that I mete felt the same as their husbands/partners – while they are all doing it tough, they wouldn’t change their lives out there for anything. They have all made lives for themselves – darned good lives. And they are the ones that sometimes face those problems mentioned at the start – lights that decide not to work, along with taps with the same problem – and all the other issues. And the sudden appearance of unexpected visitors is becoming increasingly common out there – and sometimes this does not mean just one or two people, but I have heard of quite a few that have just turned up. When I asked one of the women what happens in such a case – well, it’s pretty obvious really. They cannot ignore these people so – they feed them. No option. But this does not happen often, thankfully.
In order to simply survive and stay on their properties – stay in their homes – an increasing number of owners/managers and their wives/partners have moved over to tourism (as in operating station and farm stays) but not taking on extra staff. Some are also operating other sorts of online businesses.
There is an enormous amount to these people and through it all, their humour generally remains intact. I found them to be the most welcoming and warmest people possible. I felt so completely at home when out there. And a lot of these people opened up to me (because of my own background) – but most of that will forever more remain private as requested by them. They really are a people unto themselves. And they are still so often forgotten/ignored/overlooked and certainly not taken seriously. Perfect example is the recent threat by the WA Government to close all SotA bases statewide. Thank goodness the people from regional WA gave a huge reaction and were joined by many of the party faithful in the urban areas of the west. But, while the SotA decision was reversed, the government is stubbornly continuing to hold firm on another couple of crucial aspects relating to the people of rural WA. Typical. Completely typical. So unfair.
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